Hurricanes News

Prospects Gameday: Hurricanes vs. Rangers

Canes go for two in a row in NHL Prospects Tournament

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - Following a 6-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings to open the NHL Prospects Tournament, the Carolina Hurricanes will look to make it two in a row with a Saturday afternoon tilt against the New York Rangers.

Because of the quick turnaround, the team opted for a morning stretch outside of the hotel in lieu of the traditional morning skate, and the Canes will make a few lineup tweaks heading into the matinee affair. Jeremy Helvig will get the nod in net after Callum Booth stopped 34 of 36 shots in Friday night's win. Two tournament invitees will draw into the lineup, with Luke Boka making his debut in Steven Lorentz's stead and Adam Thilander replacing Brendan De Jong on the back-end.

Martin Necas, selected 12th overall by the Canes in the 2017 NHL Draft, tallied a goal and an assist in Friday's win, and he'll center Warren Foegele and Nick Schilkey on the team's top line on Saturday. Janne Kuokkanen, whose power play snipe opened the scoring on Friday, will shift over to the left wing today with Nicolas Roy and Spencer Smallman to his right. Andrew Poturalski will see some time in the middle, as he centers Stelio Mattheos and Julien Gauthier. Finally, Boka slots in on the right wing with Hudson Elynuik and Morgan Geekie to his left.

The defense remains consistent aside from the Thilander-De Jong swap on the third pair's right side.

The Rangers jumped out to a 3-0 lead over the Chicago Blackhawks in the second period on Friday. Chicago pushed back with two goals late in the third period but fell short in a 3-2 Rangers win, so the winner of today's game will take sole possession of first place in the Gordie Howe Division.

The puck drops at 3:30 p.m. at Centre Ice Arena. You can stream today's game live on FOX Sports GO, and we'll have you covered at the rink with game updates on Twitter at @CanesTracking.